Lecrae Speaks Out About Confronting ‘Jesus Piece’ Rapper

Christian hip-hop artist Lecrae recently opened up about a conversation he had with The Game, a fellow rapper whose Jesus Piece album offended many Christians, via text messaging late last year.

“It didn’t go down like [Game] said it went down, but it’s love,” Lecrae told The Daily Caller.

In December, in an interview with HipHopDX, Game said he had received an unexpected text from Lecrae about his album even though he had never spoken with the Christian artist before.

“I know of him, just never met him,” Game said at the time. “And he was sort of concerned with the way that some of the lyrics were coming across, and the portrayal of Jesus on the cover. But after we finished having an in-depth text conversation, I explained my vision and what I was doing, and at the end of the text we didn’t necessarily agree but I told him good luck on his path and he wished me good luck on mine.”

Game, who is a professing Christian, also indicated that he doesn’t think it’s wrong to enjoy strip clubs and other earthly pleasures deemed inappropriate by many Christians.

“You can do whatever you want … I don’t see why you can’t be religious and still do the things that make you happy in your everyday life,” he said.

Lecrae said he first attempted to contact Game well before the release of Jesus Piece to discuss similar comments the controversial rapper made during an interview with Hot 93.7 last September. He later reached out once again when the Jesus Piece cover art, which portrays Jesus as a gang member wearing a gaudy gold chain and red bandana on his face, was released, he said.

“Initially [Game] perceived it as, ‘Who do you think you are to come at me like this?’” he added. “So I smoothed that over, and we talked through that.”

He and Game have spoken multiple times since the exchange, said Lecrae, and they are on good terms.

Both men have found success through their music in recent months. Game’s Jesus Piece album debuted in the sixth spot on the Billboard 200 in December 2012, and Lecrae became the first Christian hip-hop artist to take home a Grammy earlier this year when his album Gravity won in the Best Gospel Album category.